Report: Connecticut's Greenhouse Gas Levels Are Down, But More Action Is Needed

BRIAN DOWLING, bdowling@courant.comThe Hartford Courant

Levels of greenhouse gas emissions in Connecticut have been pushed back to where they were decades ago, but much more needs to be done to meet the state's climate goals, a new state report says.

Investments in energy efficiency, a regional shift to natural gas use for electricity, and slowed economic output between 2007 and 2010 were major contributors to the steep slide in the production of the greenhouse gases responsible for climate change during that period, the report said.

The decline first dipped the state's greenhouse gas emissions below 1990 levels in 2008, two years ahead of the goal. Connecticut's next goals call for it to be 10 percent below those levels in 2020 and 80 percent below by 2050.

"Additional action will be required to achieve the state's target," said the state's report on greenhouse gas emissions. The report is required by the state Global Warming Solutions Act of 2008.

The report was dated Monday, the day the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency put forward new rules to cut greenhouse gas emissions from the country's power plants by 30 percent in the next decade and a half.

"There are strong indications that this climate progress is being and can continue to be accomplished while simultaneously assuring that Connecticut enjoys a cheaper, cleaner and more reliable energy future, supporting economic growth and job growth, and providing improved quality of life," the report said.

In 2010, Connecticut produced 41.38 million metric tons of greenhouse gases across sectors including transportation, power, residential, commercial, industrial, agriculture and waste. In 1990, greenhouse gas emissions were 43.75 million metric tons.

Greenhouse gas production from the power and commercial sectors fell the steepest in the past two decades, while transportation, the largest category for the emissions, and industrial sectors grew by 6 percent and 13 percent, respectively.

Declines in the commercial sector were caused by less overall energy use and fuel switching from oil to natural gas, the report said.

Although meeting the state's goal for 2010 two years early is welcome news to state officials, more recent trends underline how further reducing emissions could prove more difficult.

One reason is that the economy is expanding, not declining as it did during the years leading up to 2010. As businesses increase operations or new firms open shops, demand for electricity will grow, increasing overall emissions. As the economy turned the corner at the end of 2009 and into 2010, carbon emissions in Connecticut began to tick up slightly, according to the state report.

Lauren Savidge, a staff attorney and energy specialist for the Connecticut Fund for the Environment, called the report encouraging, but added that it also highlighted how far the state has left to go.

Although the state is comfortably on its way to meeting its 2020 goal — having emissions of just 39.38 million metric tons of carbon dioxide — the 2050 goal will take much more work. By then, the state needs to have just 9.25 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions.

Much of the decline in the power sector can be attributed to a regional cap-and-trade program that required power plants to buy offsets for their carbon dioxide emissions. Proceeds from the purchases are reinvested by the eight Northeastern states participating in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative to fund efficiency programs or renewable energy projects.

Promotion of the state report coincided Friday with the release of results from the most recent auction of carbon credits from the cap-and-trade program. The 24th auction since its founding in 2009 raised $90.7 million for member states by selling 18.1 million carbon credits at $5.02 a piece.

Cumulatively, the auctions have raised $1.75 billion.

Peter Shattuck, director of market initiative for Environment Northeast, an environmental advocate, said that the regional program "has demonstrated that emissions can come down rapidly and affordably in the electric sector."

Over the course of the program, electricity prices in the region have fallen by 8 percent.